Ram Gopal Varma on Dhurandhar: Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar is on a winning streak and on its way to a Rs 1000 crore box office path. As it is set to become Bollywood’s biggest blockbuster of 2025, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has penned a lengthy praise for the Ranveer Singh starrer on social media. Calling it a “quantum leap in Indian cinema,” the Satya director claimed that Dhar “changed the future of Indian cinema.”
Calling it a carefully engineered experience, he praised how Dhar relied on the intelligence of his audience and chose not to give context. Exploring the different conflicts India went through over the years, Dhurandhar is a vengeful spy-thriller. Shortly after Varma posted, Dhar shared his heartfelt reply and how he looked up to him since his early days. He replied to the post and wrote, “If this tweet were a film, I would have gone to watch it first day first show, stood in the last row, and come out changed.”
Ram Gopal Varma’s take on Dhurandhar
Sharing that Dhurandhar managed to change the tangent of Indian cinema, Varma added, “Aditya Dhar doesn’t direct scenes here… he engineers the states of minds.” According to the filmmaker, Dhurandhar didn’t ask for attention, but commanded it from his audiences. Praising its opening scenes, he shared, “something irreversible has been set in motion, and the audience is no longer a spectator but an accomplice to the happenings on screen.”
In his true element, Ram Gopal Varma felt that the writing of the film cut with intent. Adding further, he noted, “he staging breathes menace, and the silences are as weaponised as the thunderous sound effects.” Tapping into the power of storytelling, he praised Aditya Dhar for understanding the power of pressure building. ” Every sequence feels compressed, like a spring being wound, never knowing when it will snap. And when it does, the impact is not just brutal, but it is also symphonically operatic,” Varma expressed.
What Varma said about Ranveer Singh and others
Not naming any specific cast member, Varma felt that the performance in Dhurandhar wasn’t designed to be liked, but linger. Commenting on the overt display of violence and sensitive visuals, Varma justified them and said, “Action here isn’t choreography for applause… It’s perspectively justified and extremely ugly, the way real violence should feel.”
Echoing the industry sentiment, he agreed that Dhurandhar didn’t chase validation. But it set trends. While it may not be the first spy-thriller Bollywood has seen, it is one of 2025’s biggest performances. “It is a solemn declaration that Indian cinema doesn’t need to dilute itself to become successful and doesn’t need to mindlessly copy Hollywood,” Varma added.
How did Aditya Dhar reply?
Already going viral on social media, Aditya Dhar’s reply was a heartfelt attempt to thank his indirect mentor. Dhar, the maker of Uri, shared that he had always wanted to work under Ram Gopal Varma. However, this review of his film seemed more rewarding. “Your films didn’t teach me how to make movies — they taught me how to think dangerously,” Dhar shared, addressing Varma.
He felt ‘surreal’ and ’emotional’ when Varma called Dhurandhar a ‘quantum leap’. Dhar shared, “You were one of my favourite directors who made Indian cinema feel fearless, impolite, and alive. If Dhurandhar has even a fraction of that DNA, it’s because your films whispered (sometimes screamed) in my head while I was writing and directing it.”
Varma’s closing statement – ‘You outgrew me’
As Dhar shared how he always worked inside Ram Gopal Varma’s cinema, the Satya maker remarked, “You didn’t work inside my cinema. You outgrew it.”
He then added, “Dhurandhar didn’t impress me because it reminded me of anything I’ve done. It impressed me because it didn’t ask anyone for either permission nor validation. That’s rare. That’s courage. That’s a new cinema.”